Jazz Pianist has been an active performer in the Chicago jazz scene for over a decade. She leads a sextet which includes her husband, bassist Kelly Sill. (Their dog is also named Kelly!). Her band, The Kelly Brand Sextet has two recordings, Sister Luna and A Dream and Stone (1994). A Dream also features trumpeter Art Davis, bass trumpet Ryan Schultz, tenor Jim Gailloreto, drummer Phil Gratteau, and vocalist Suzanne Palmer. Brand has also performed on several other albums, including Ladies in Jazzland (1997, Jazzfest Label), Women Who Swing Chicago (1999, Big Chicago), and Mile by Jazz Mile (1999, Chicago Lakeside).
In addition to club and lounge gigs, she has played three times at the Chicago Jazz Festival. She has performed at Ravinia several times, including an impromptu double piano performance with well-known pianist/radio host Marian McPartland, who called her "A fine young pianist who plays her own music with elegance and sensitivity."
"Brand has a flowing winsome style as a pianist," says Chicago Sun-Times reviewer Lloyd Sachs, "and an even more impressive harmonic sense as a composer."
She has frequently performed with Sill in smaller ensembles weeknights at the Hotel Nikko. She has taught for the Merit School of Music and in the Ravinia Music Illumination Program. She is also performing with Ari Brown and Kelly Sill in Chicago schools withthe Pangea Trio, sponsored by the International Music Foundation, an umbrella group of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra.
For more information, visit their website: www.kellybrand.com
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